Re: Rookie watch

[JB <jbmetzea@yahoo.com>]

   Joe; I love your efforts at bringing us the "Rookie watch." Thank you.
   While we all have heard that; hindsight is better than foresight, on most
days; we are particularly interested in this years draft class because of
the unorthodox pick of Kedrick Brown and the ballyhoo of taking the best
players available instead of picking for positional need..
   There were two players Tinsley and Murphy, who most pollsters figured the
C's would take at 11. These were both players who filled a need and knew how
to play basketball. Instead we went for the athletic kid (just like last
year) and filled no needs. Ironically, if we had taken Murphy with the 11
pick, we could have had Tinsley at 21.
   I don't want to say that Forte is a bust or Kedrick Brown won't be the
next Tracy McGrady, but it does seem we would be a lot better team with the
fore mentioned players.
  Can anyone tell me why Forte has been disabled? He had a breakout game
against Cleveland and then he is forgotten. Did he take too many shots?
Rookies aren't supposed to do that you know. Will Walker and Pierce complain
to the coach about Joe Johnson? Will Johnson be the next victim of "Helenic
flu?"  as punishment for stealing thunder?
   I missed the NJ and Bucks game, so I'm a little behind the learning
curve, but it seems from the posts that Walker has lowered his head to the
ground and is taking more of the play making  away from Anderson. For much
of the preseason, under Anderson's floor leadership, the team was running
and Walker was moving the ball around. Why has that stopped?
   George Karl has thrown down the coaching gauntlet. This is O'Brien's
challenge. He has helped create the concept that it is a star driven team,
that Walker and Pierce have the ordained right shoot as much as they like.
If he wants to be an NBA coach for more than a short run, he will have to
teach them that passing and team play is the key to success.
   Imho, Walker's poor 2 point % results from trying to create his offense
too far from the basket, another drawback from his setting up outside. He
wants so badly to be a Kobe Bryant type player, with that quick first step
and that high slam finish, but he just can't get up like that and his drives
start from way too far out for his agility level.
   The team needs a low post threat in the half court. If Antoinabee
 would
set up down low, as Pitino tried to get him to:
   1. He could be effective scoring, or passing out of the double teams that
would have to come. He could also score on putbacks of offensive rebounds,
which we haven't seen since Fortson limped out of town.
   2. Anderson would be able to control the offense and get shots for our
centers and any player who decides to come off a pick or cut to the basket.
   3. Johnson, Forte and Strickland would be able to create a bit in the
half court and all are unselfish, can pass and will shoot a much higher %
than Walker.



                 JB




Unchain My Heart!



on 11/5/01 5:02 AM, j.hironaka at j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:

Joe Johnson (12.0 ppg, .576FG%) ranks among the NBA leaders in several
interesting categories, notably #3 in assists to turnover (10 : 1). Its a
bit of a statistical fluke, since he's averaging just one assist every 11+
minutes (remarkably, Paul Pierce currently ranks just seventh on the team
in assists).

So don't annoint him our point forward yet (someday I hope), but he's off
to a solid, near Rookie of the Month type start, just like Paul Pierce and
Adrian Griffin before him.

Among the top rookies, Kedrick and Forte aren't the only ones waiting in
line for PT from their coaches. We all know that Obie has a thing with guys
named Eric (or Erick), but other more experienced NBA coaches are also
making their top draft picks sit despite fan impatience comparable to our
own.

Of the first 15 picks in the draft, six are contributing 2 points or less
per game (including Tyson Chandler, Kwame Brown and Randy White) and three
others are shooting below .316 from the field (Jason Richardson, Eddie
Griffin, Vladimir Radmanovic). These are the types of prospects that list
members wanted Chris Wallace to trade up for on draft day. A lot of them
may develop into the true stars of their draft class in due time, but so
could Joe and Kedrick.

As a rookie, Dirk Nowitzki shot .206 on treys and was a poor defender and
rebounder (3.4) as a rookie. In recent drafts Baron Davis, Tracy McGrady,
Antawn Jamison, Jason Terry, Rip Hamilton were also quiet rookies. Most of
us wouldn't object to trading Paul Pierce straight up for half of those
guys.

Thus far you don't see any instant franchise player types like the Vince
Carter and Paul Pierce phenomenon of a few years ago, but several rookies
are off to a very impressive start. In terms of motivation to prove his
doubters wrong, I guess Shane Battier is this year's Paul Pierce so far.
The Memphis dynamic duo of Pau Gasol and Shane Battier continues to defy
critics (although it hasn't translated into wins).

Here are the scoring leaders for the time being:

Shane Battier 14.5 ppg 6.5 rpg .440FG%
Richard Jefferson 12.8 ppg 4.3 rpg .514FG%
Joe Johnson 12.6 ppg .576FG%
Pau Gasol 9.0 ppg 4.5 rpg .571FG%
Troy Murphy 7.3 ppg 7.3 rpg .526FG%  (#2 in rebounds per 48 minutes)

But the current ROY leader has to be Jamaal Tinsley, who only ranks #1 in
steals (3.0) and #3 in assists (10.3) in the NBA while shooting .500 from
the field and .750 from the line. You've got to wonder what Utah was
thinking drafting Real Madrid's 6-0 Raul Lopez three picks ahead of
Tinsley. Time will tell, I guess.

Also, if you look at next year's "point guard" draft, aside from the two
Duke guards you wonder if any will have had a better college resumi in
terms of leadership and production. Why is Frank Williams a better prospect
than Jamaal Tinsley was? I think it is because, in general, this season's
collegiate crop looks to be inferior to those in the 2001 draft entry
class, even though this year's class was overshadowed by the early-entry
prep big men.

If Jason Williams had declared early, the NCAA would look like a wasteland
filled mostly with flawed stars and a depleted Freshman class. Last year at
this time, one could already sense that there might be a slew of typical
lottery calibre players available. In the end, quite a few didn't live up
to that advance billing (Jamaal Tinsley, Loren Woods & Brendan Haywood,
freshmen Gerald Wallace & Zach Randolph, Joe Forte and Gilbert Arenas,
Terrence Morris, Alvin Jones & Ken Johnson...). But at least they were
recognizable names. This year, some of the top collegiate names sound no
more exciting at this stage than Trenton Hassell or Jeff Trepagnier. And
the next great prep class seems another year away.

Still, if we somehow knew Antonio McDyess would suffer a major injury,
perhaps it would have been worth it to roll over the top-three lottery
protected pick. Of course, if we could have predicted that then we also
would have been able to stop the September 11th tragedy from happening.
This was a much safer draft to be in.

****